Looking Back: 180-year-old letter reveals language of love

Farrell Benefiel, former coach at Freeport High School, has been an avid seeker of his family’s genealogy. He and his wife, Margaret, spent years digging deeply into the Benefiel family history.

By Harriett Gustason

Journal Standard

By Harriett Gustason

Posted Jul. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 6, 2013 at 5:15 AM

By Harriett Gustason

Posted Jul. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 6, 2013 at 5:15 AM

Farrell Benefiel, former coach at Freeport High School, has been an avid seeker of his family’s genealogy. He and his wife, Margaret, spent years digging deeply into the Benefiel family history.

Considering his family in America goes back 10 generations, nine of which were born in this country, Farrell and Margaret found volumes of information while maintaining homes in both Freeport and Florida following Farrell’s retirement. Margaret is now deceased.

Though the quest has covered many years, there have been some circumstances which played in favor of their search. Farrell said that just by coincidence he encountered a man who he learned had the same last name as his and possessed a great deal of Benefiel chronology. Farrell said he went to that man’s home and learned he had five volumes of Benefiel ancestry — Farrell’s own line centered in Indiana included — a most welcome fact.

Another helpful finding was that Farrell’s grandmother had recorded considerable information in the family Bible.

An intriguing finding

One particular item among their findings, which Farrell believes would be of general interest, is a letter written in 1833. It was a proposal of marriage to a young woman named Ann, who Farrell has every reason to believe was Ann Benefiel. Farrell said he has not been able to prove that conclusively, and he has never been able to find if the marriage took place, but he believes the letter worthy of sharing with others.

It was neatly hand-written in ink on Aug. 21, 1833, at Vincennes, Ind., to “My Dear Ann.” It is signed by “G.W. Carruthers” as “Your Devoted Friend.” Little would the writer ever have dreamed that his personal letter would be published in a newspaper 180 years later.

On Aug. 21, 1833, G. W. Carruthers wrote the following:

“My Dear Ann,

“God is my judge that this letter is truth and sincerity. I would give all I have in the world to call you mine. I have been acquainted with you many years, have always loved you and always will. Without you I know I cannot be happy. With you, I could, in the most sacred ties, live out a happy life. I could then in the holiest intercourse with God, and the truest affection for you, spend my days in soothing your troubles and rendering you happy.

“My love is no vain youthful passion. It has long lasted and long will it last. If these letters were written in blood, the crimson stain would convey only a faint idea of the interest I take in you. You cannot, Ann, you cannot, think any being in this world has the same attachment to you I have. Another may have more experience and assurance than me and tell his story in calm confidence, but that is an evidence of his being less interested in your and his united welfare.

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“Do you think a man once married, would manage your affairs better than I could do? No, if that man has been born and raised in a town, he cannot manage a farm half as well. Do you object to my youth? I am but little younger than yourself, and the vigor of that youth, and the prime of manhood should be devoted to the making of you happy.

“Do you believe I am not a business man? A hundred witnesses, the most business-doing men in Knox County would tell a very different story. Do you think Mr. (crossed out) or any other person regards you as I do? No, not a thousandth part as well. Mr. B. is a respectable citizen, but will there never be anything unpleasant in being a step mother in the whole course of your life? Indeed, Ann, my business will soon have increased to such an extent that I shall be greatly in need of a woman of your experience to superintend my domestic affairs. But, Ann, the greatest and most adorable of all beings knows that my greatest objective in wanting you is to increase my holiness of life, and devotion to God. So that we may often and again, bend side by side, in the profoundest adoration.

“You also possess a house and farm well-suited to the business in which I am soon to engage, a business both pleasant and profitable. But yourself, Ann, your dear lovely self, is the one in whom centers all my deepest love, and truest affection.

“O Ann! For the sake of happiness in life, and peace in death, for the sake of the love your virtues have kindled, for the sake of that God, who I trust, will bless and hallo our lives, consent to be mine. How could I ever see you belong to another? My only excuse for writing this letter, is a heart bursting full, and a wish to promote your felicity and its own.

“The Boy thinks he carries this letter for Mr. Jones. It is now not far from two o’clock at night. My prayers to Heaven for success shall be fervent and ceaseless.”

“Your Devoted Friend, G. W. Carruthers”

Ted Midthun remembers

“When I was a kid growing up in the late 1940s and ’50s, Stockton was like no other town to grow up in! As kids we left home in the morning for our adventures, came home for lunch and went back out until supper time.

“We explored everything, sometimes things that got us in trouble. Back then being put over someone’s knee (mom’s) and spanked was not considered corporal punishment. They also had some kind of a communication system that everyone always knew where you were. It still remains a mystery today, how they knew everything.

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“The 4th of July was a very special summer day. It was our national Independence Day, a day of celebration across the country. There were picnics and fireworks, flags flying and a full day of fun.

“I don’t know when Stockton (as a city) started to celebrate the 4th. My earliest memories were of the late ’40s and early ’50s. They were held at the old Stockton High School football and track stadium. There was a hill on the north side of the stadium called Rynes Hill. People would park cars on the north side of the hill and then walk up over the hill and find a spot to watch the fireworks. Standing down in the stadium looking to the north, you would see all the stadium bleachers full and the whole hillside full. It must have been hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand people. The show would usually start around 9 p.m., and what a show, the loudest, noisiest and highest aerial display you have ever seen. It just filled the sky.

“After 60 to 90 minutes it was over, but everyone knew they had just seen the best free show in northwestern Illinois. This is a very special tribute to the different organizations, businesses and individuals who gave of their time and money to give back to the community of Stockton.

“Sometime after the school burned down in 1955, and the new school was built, the event moved to the Stockton Memorial Park. It hasn’t lost its ranking as one of the best shows in northwestern Illinois. If anything, it is so much larger and better than ever before.

“I have tried to make it home to Stockton every year since 1963 for the 4th of July. It has become my family’s tradition. My children and their families also head for Stockton every 4th of July as well, and we all live 300 miles away in Minnesota.”

Ted Midthun closes with a thank you to all the organizations, businesses and individuals who are responsible for staging the event. He says, “Thank you for making it such a wonderful family event and tradition.”

It is signed, “Most sincerely, Ted Midthun, Apple Valley, Minnesota”

New Exhibit at SCHS

The Stephenson County Historical Museum at 1440 S. Carroll Ave. in Freeport is featuring a new “National Service Exhibit” to honor the thousands from the county who served in the military. Edward Finch, executive director of the Stephenson County Historical Society, is the curator of the exhibit. It covers all the wars from the Civil War to the war in Vietnam, telling the where, why and how men and women served our nation.

Uniforms, photographs, maps and artifacts make up the exhibit. It is part of the museum’s regular tours displayed on the second floor of the Oscar Taylor Home. The second floor is not handicap accessible.